Training Tips by Coach Joe McConkey

Common Mistakes in Running Form - Excessive Heel-strike

Running with your natural form may not be quite so natural on your musculo-skeletal system. Sedentary jobs, past injuries, non-running activities (biking, rowing, skiing, ballet, etc), and fallen arches in your feet are all possible causes of muscle tightness or weakness (and/or spinal and hip misalignment) that may negatively impact the efficiency of your running form. One common result is an excessive heel-strike.

Excessive Heel-strike

Note the forward leg (the leg depicted with the more solid line) is landing quite severely on the heel of the foot and well in front of the hips. Both of these factors result in sudden, sharp forces on the hips, knees, and lower back. They also contribute to a loss of efficiency and speed, as forward momentum is slightly halted with each landing. The dotted leg, and more correct version, shows a landing on the heel that is at less of an angle and more closely underneath the hips.

Possible causes:

• The incorrect 'idea' to lengthen your stride by reaching forward with your lower leg.
• An excessive push backwards with the trail leg, which results in a more horizontal reaction throughout the lower body.
• Weak or mis-firing of the hamstrings, glutes, and quadriceps resulting in a limited amount of paw-back motion.
• Leaning backwards or minimal forward lean.

Possible corrective actions:

• More of a focus on increasing speed and stride-length by pushing down into the ground, as opposed to reaching forward.
• More of a focus on the paw-back motion of running (the motion of bringing the leg down and back just prior to touching the ground).
• A slight leaning-forward position of the body (at the heels not the hips!).
• Over-all increase in leg strength and improved proprioception so a more ballistic motion exists in your stride.

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